Seattle: Teaching Filipino American history is a social and societal affirmation

A mural depicts Filipino American experience in Seattle.

It wasn't until college before I learned any Filipino American history. By then, my self-worth had plummeted to depths I didn't realize until I stepped back as an adult to look back on my life's journey.

Middle school and high school were terrible. The popularity and a reputation for academic accomplishments that I fostered in elementary school vanished as I entered 7th grade when the social aspects of school began to take precedence.  All the way through high school, although I got along with students of all races in my multi-ethnic school, I always had this feeling of being on the outside and not belonging.

For the first time, Seattle public school students are being offered an option to study Filipino American history to fulfill their US history requirement. After all, Filipino American history is part of US history.

Usually, in the most forward-looking school districts, which are rare, Filipino American history is part of the overall curriculum of an Asian American history class. But Seattle public schools offering is perhaps the district offering a distinctly Filipino American subject, not Chinese, Japanese or the all-encompassing Asian American history, but Filipino.

According to 2020–2021 Seattle Public Schools (SPS) student data disaggregated by racial demographics, upwards of 4,700 students identify as Filipino, Filipino American, or as a multiracial Filipino student. 

Filipino American history has already been incorporated into SPS's curriculum of US history, but this virtual offering centering on the Filipino American experience can now fulfill that same history requirement.

It took decades of community work to develop the academically acceptable curriculum including contributions from the University of Washington and from the local Filipino American community.

Usually, curriculum is developed from the materials available from national publishers and educational institutions and then selected by the local school districts. In Seattle's case, it is the first time that locally produced educational formed the basis of the curriculum.

Much of the material is derived from the Filipino American National History Society, headquartered in Seattle. Having October designated as Filipino American History Month is the product of the work of FANHS.

It took many individuals and decades of research and lobbying for the creation of the history class. One of the key local sdvocates was SPS senior project manager of academics Devin Cabanilla. For years, he used his role in the district and his strong ties with the local community to leverage acceptance of the idea.

It wasn't until the arrival of SPS's Ethnic Studies program manager Alekz Wray and the current district administration leaders, did the idea break through the bureaucratic red tape.  Wray shepherded the course through the academic requirements of SPS and helped integrate the local material into the curriculum. 

“It was really important for me to make sure that this class was not a product of SPS," Wray told the Emerald. "This was a product of the community that has been living this history, because who’s telling the story is super important … This was the Filipino, Filipina, Filipinx American communities’ story to tell, and because the community still has ownership over this curriculum, they’re still able to empower and uplift and keep this as a living curriculum.”

The course, “Filipinx American US History,” fits into the district’s expanding catalog of courses centering diverse perspectives in literature and history classes, such as Black Studies US History and Native American Literature. The high school course uses Filipinx in its name, a term indicating gender neutrality in place of Filipino or Filipina, although some say “Filipino” is already a gender-neutral term.

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The Filipino community has a strong presence in Seattle where a park and bridge is
named after one of the Philippines' revolutionary figures.

The school district said expanded access to these ethnic courses is critical to its racial equity work and commitment to the community. 

During this current surge of outright racism, especially attacks against Asian Americans, anti-racist curricula and teaching methods are a potentially potent way for schools to better promote a just society and improve educational outcomes for low-income students and students of color, according to studies by educational experts.

“Students going through ethnic studies curricula find themselves empowered having that self-confidence … a lot of people start to get to know themselves,” said Dr. Third Andresen, a UW professor who played a critical role in designing the curriculum. “It (ethnic studies) increases the probability of college access and the probability of graduation.”

SPS spokesperson Tina Riss Christiansen said there are currently  11 students enrolled in the virtual Filipinx U.S. History class. There are also a couple hundred eighth graders at several middle schools who will take the class this school year. Christiansen also points out that Seattle schools also tests Filipino languages every year for World Language Credit Testing and a Seal of Biliteracy to fulfill the foreign language requirements of some colleges.

“Filipinos are contributors in any community they go to, so this class will be for all of us, by Filipinos,” Wray said. “I’m really excited for students to be able to take this class and to really challenge the master narrative,” which usually teaches US history from a Euro-centric point of view.

"I’m so jealous of kids,” Cabanilla told the Emerald. “The relevance of who Filipino Americans are in American history wasn’t clear to me until after college. For kids to be able to recognize that [they] are a valid part of American history ... it’s so affirming.”

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